


Clothes Make The Man

by SkyTurtle



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Character Study, Dom/sub Undertones, Established Relationship, Ferengi Gender Horribleness, Introspection, M/M, Quark Has Issues, Quark Has Panic Attacks, Self-Esteem Issues, alien morals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-28 22:37:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18765688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyTurtle/pseuds/SkyTurtle
Summary: Quark wasn't wearing this suit because Odo liked it, he was wearing it because he liked it himself. That was all. Really. Then why was he wondering what else Odo would like?





	Clothes Make The Man

Quark took great pride in his appearance. For some time it was the only thing in his life he felt he could safely take pride in. After all, it's not like he could rely on his family to win him any favors. His father had died broke, his mother was a feminist and his brother had been swindled by his ex-wife. His family was the perfect portrait of Ferengi disgrace and their reputation preceded Quark for the entirety of his youth. And even as he grew older he could never shake the idea that everyone could see that disgrace just by looking at him.

 

Well, he'd just have to give them something else to look at. It was expected for men on Ferenginar to take the time to be neatly groomed, but Quark had taken it farther. Perhaps obsessively farther. He couldn't  _ just _ make sure his teeth were sharp, he also had to make sure they were straight. He couldn't  _ just _ keep his nails clean and polished, he had to re-polish them everyday just to make sure they would shine. He couldn't  _ just  _ wear flashy suits, he had to wear suits that screamed of high stations he could never achieve.

 

Quark and his family were perceived as foolish roobs at best and as dangerous deviants at worst, so it was his job to prove otherwise. He did everything he could to match every masculine ideal Ferenginar had given him. He would be good with numbers, have a knack for reading contracts and small print. He'd be deceitful, conceiving and untrustworthy.

 

Then there was  _ Terok Nor _ .  _ Deep Space Nine,  _ now. 

 

He had obeyed Rule 75 and followed the latinum stars in search for profit and landed on a Cardassian mining station. It suited him, he thought. Cardassians weren't the worst customers so long as you had a healthy dose of paranoia about you and kept the  _ kanar  _ flowing.

 

And the best part was that none of them knew, or otherwise cared, about any rumors spreading on his homeworld. He could do business with them, hopefully make himself a small fortune, and return home as a successful entrepreneur. He’d prove his planet wrong and rise above the reputation of his family. Maybe then he could finally buy his own moon and make cousin Gaila eat his words. 

 

The Occupation ending so soon hadn't been entirely planned for. The Bajorans were hard people to work with and he  _ certainly _ hadn't planned on having to do business with the Federation. A truly backward people who genuinely listed charity, modesty and truthfulness among the virtues.

 

But he had stayed. Willingly or not, he lived among the strange and uncivilized people for years and to his shock, the bar had survived! But Quark was changing. Quark wasn't an expert on social sciences, but it seemed as if no two peoples could cohabitate for long without their values infecting each other. Quark could do nothing but watch as the ideal version of himself crumbled and left behind something disgustingly  _ sincere _ . He would never admit to anyone but himself just how far he had fallen, but he didn't need to. It was clear everyone knew simply by seeing how many people on the station counted on him. And he didn't even exploit them! Not much anyway. Only when it was the most obvious thing to do.

 

But his appearance, the vast effort that he put into how he looked, was Quark's last strand of dignity and he couldn't imagine anything that would make him willingly give that up.

 

~*~

 

Odo had seemingly crept into his life without Quark’s knowledge. Much like the cultural influence on the station, Odo had seemed like an inevitability that nevertheless shocked him when it finally came. One day he was being introduced to the Changeling Novelty on  _ Terok Nor,  _ soon after he's constantly butting heads with the new Constable, then he's in an unspoken agreement of mutual distrust with a friend, and finally he's waking up with too many limbs wrapped around him and feeling unnaturally content in the bed of a law enforcer.

 

Unlike the cultural influences, though, he couldn't say he wanted Odo gone. Go figure that he would only encourage Quark’s downward spiral of corruption.

 

“I prefer this suit over the one you wore yesterday.”

 

That was all Odo had to say to make Quark slowly lose his mind. It was clear that he didn’t mean much by it and Quark hadn't thought about it at first. It wasn't uncommon for them to trade insults based on their fashion choices, so that's all he saw it as. It was just the Constable’s way of saying that he thought yesterday's suit was hideous. But it had sounded too much like a compliment for Quark to let it go.

 

“ _ I prefer this suit over the one you wore yesterday.” _

 

He compared the two suits. Obviously neither of them were anything Odo would go near on his own, their tastes were far too different for that, so what was it that made  _ this  _ one better?

 

The preferred suit was blindingly bright like most everything else he owned, but it did have fewer patterns than yesterday’s. It made up for the lack of patterns and switching colors with texture. If one were to run their hand down it from top to bottom, they were feel the velvety shoulders, the silky cord, the structured Andorian cotton, and finally the soft knotted cord that served as hems.

 

“ _ I prefer this suit over the one you wore yesterday.” _

 

Quark had full control over his wardrobe. He bought it with his own latinum and he knew what he looked best in, thank you very much. But... It had been a while since he’d worn this suit regularly. He wasn't wearing it more because Odo almost said he liked it, he was wearing it because he liked it himself. He had just forgotten how much he liked it until he wore it again.

 

That was all.

 

Then why was he wondering what else Odo would like?

 

~*~  
  


 

Although Quark felt fairly confident about his texture theory, he'd never actually confirmed it. And despite wearing The Suit more often than any of his others now, Odo had never commented. He tried not to think about it too much as he pretended to struggle choosing between two completely new outfits.

 

“Which one do you think is better?” Quark asked, trying to sound casual.

 

This was stupid. Odo didn’t care about clothes, that was obvious enough just be looking at him. And more importantly, it didn’t matter what he thought! Quark was an independent businessman and no one with the lobes for business let someone else dictate his wardrobe-

 

Odo looked up from whatever he was reading, giving him and the outfits a slightly puzzled look. “The green one.” And then his nose was back in a PADD, as if the incident never happened.

 

Quark swallowed harshly at the way he so casually answered. If he was being reasonable he knows it was just a cultural difference. Neither Cardassians or Bajorans put as much importance on clothes as Ferengi did, so Odo had no idea that he was  _ basically  _ telling him to wear or what that action would imply. But it didn't stop Quark's heart from jumping into his throat as he made the decision to wear Odo's favorite.

 

~*~  
  


 

This continued for months. Quark would occasionally ask as innocently as he could what clothing item Odo preferred over another, and he'd answer as if it weren't a big deal.

 

Odo noticed the change in behavior and asked him about it more than once but Quark was always able to shift the subject. If he wasn’t so busy feeling dirty and immoral he might have felt very clever. Being able to trick or even distract Odo was always something he took pride in, and doing it for this long was probably a new record. That probably should have been first sign that he’d messed it up. 

 

The day Odo bought him brand new clothes was the day he knew he must truly be corrupt and depraved. So long as Quark had control over his appearance he could still pretend he wasn't. Sometimes he could even trick himself into thinking that he was still in control because he was still technically choosing his own clothes, he just happened to be choosing the same things that Odo preferred. But wearing clothes that he didn’t buy, hadn’t had any say in, hadn’t even  _ seen _ before Odo just left them in his quarters one day flew in the face of any lie he could tell himself. And Exchequer help him, he  _ liked  _ it.

 

Clothes were symbols. They showed just how much fabric and craftsmanship the wearer could afford. That was why any male worth his latinum invested in layers of highly detailed fabric and conversely was why no women were allowed clothes at all. It was a rule so well understood on Ferenginar that uniforms were a thing only enforced by the richest and most conceited. To have someone control your wardrobe was barely better than being a female.

 

Willingly giving someone that control was practically unheard of. It was perversion and vice itself. But Quark couldn't bring himself to hate this. Sometimes the feelings would overwhelm him, the true weight of his disgusting actions would hit him all at once and he'd shake with it all. What had happened? Why was he letting this happen? What if someone found out? This was the last straw, they’d all either be cast out or thrown off the Tower of Commerce. They'd hurt Rom and sell Moogie and it would be all Quark’s fault!

 

But Odo was always there. Odo who seemed to understand more than an outworlder should. Odo who will hold him until the shakes stopped. Odo who would bring him back from panic attacks with math problems and gentle encouragement. Odo who would gently explain why they couldn’t hurt him or his family. Odo who finally made Quark let go of who he had to be, and instead be who he was.

**Author's Note:**

> So no joke, I started shipping Quodo within like five episodes and I am So Glad to see that the ship has been taking off these past few years and I love every one of you
> 
> Comments are always appreciated! <3


End file.
